ISTANBUL
Turkey needs to increase its trading channels with neighboring countries and continue developing a liberal market structure in order to provide more affordable electricity to its citizens, said Batu Aksoy, Turkey’s head of Energy Traders Association (ETD).
Aksoy told the Anadolu Agency in an interview on Tuesday that it is important for Turkey to increase the supply channels that it uses to import natural gas and oil from neighboring countries, and added that if Turkey can also provide the necessary infrastructure to distribute these sources to the end consumers in the country, people in Turkey will have access to more affordable energy prices.
As of 2013, Turkey imported 98 percent of its natural gas and 93 percent of its oil. Turkey generates 46 percent of its electricity from natural gas and has an energy bill of up to US$60 billion a year.
Aksoy underlined that a transparent, more liberal and competitive energy market in Turkey will increase investments in the country with “predictability” being the biggest element an energy investor requires.
“Energy investments require huge funds and do not have immediate results in the short term,” Aksoy said, adding that, “Turkey needs to increase the portion of private sector investment in the energy market to provide a reliable environment for these investments.”
- Public authority in Turkey’s energy market needs to act as an inspector
Aksoy stated that the main role of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) which was established 10 years ago, is to act as an inspector in the energy market.
However, Turkey's state owned Petroleum Pipeline Cooperation (BOTAS) still controls 80 percent of the natural gas imported in Turkey. Aksoy recommends that the cooperation be split into the public and private sector with the transmission being overseen by the public and the trading given over to the private sector. This tactic, he believes would create a more competitive energy market.
Aksoy stressed that Turkey cannot become an energy hub just by using its geo-strategic position. “Turkey must have a transparent and liberal market structure to achieve its goal to become an energy hub.”
Turkey’s electricity market has been developing recently and has steadily increased since 1994 when it had 20.000 megawatts (mW) of installed capacity which has now risen to its current capacity of 64.612 (mW) of electricity. “This is an immense increase,” Aksoy said adding that private companies are making big investments which should see that Turkey continues generating its own electricity without having to be overly reliant on electricity imports.
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